Today I’m going slightly off topic to introduce you to the X-37B. This thing looks like a steroid mutant version of the Reaper Drone, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) now deployed by the military and CIA in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. It also looks a bit like the Space Shuttle, except without the astronauts. There’s something disquieting about the windowless appearance, like how the monster in the movie “Alien” doesn’t have eyes. But the X-37B is still neat! A drone is being launched Friday for the program’s second secret mission. For the first mission, the X-37B spent 225 days in space. The Air Force denies that it’s a space weapon. I’m guessing this machine will be used for extreme spying missions, but it’s hard not to imagine a general somewhere dreaming up scenarios in which this thing is raining fire on somebody. Here are more photos and video of this beast: More